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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoLM Otero | Associated PressDespite a reduced home-selling pace in October, central Ohio sales are still up more than 20 percent this year, and they remain on pace to end the year as the second-highest on record. This home was for sale in Texas.

“It appears that we’re entering into a more traditional housing marketplace,” said Ohio
Association of Realtors President Thomas Williams.

Despite the drop, central Ohio home sales are still up more than 20 percent this year through
October, and they remain on pace to end the year as the second-highest on record.

During October, 2,032 homes changed hands in the Columbus area, a 2.1 percent drop from last
October.

Nationally, home sales fell 3.2 percent in October from September to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of 5.12 million, the lowest level since June and the second consecutive monthly
decline.

Some observers attributed the decline to a shortage of homes on the market.

“Sales dipped last month, not because we don’t have the demand, but because we don’t have the
inventory,” said Chris Pedon, president of the Columbus Realtors trade association. “We have
buyers. But we need more houses and condos to show them.”

At the end of October, 10,260 homes were listed for sale in central Ohio, the lowest number at
this time of year since 2002 and well below the 15,000 homes listed in a typical month.

Experts attribute the low inventory level of the past year to several things, including
homeowners nervous about moving up after the housing crisis or being unable to sell because they
owe more than their home is worth.

The shortage of homes for sale has helped push prices up. The median sales price of a central
Ohio home in October was $140,000, up 6.2 percent from a year ago.

Nationally, the median sales price was $199,500, up 12.8 percent from last October.

One expert says that rising prices contributed more to the sales decline than did a low
inventory.

“Prices have reached a point where buying a house isn’t the great deal it was 18 month ago, so
fewer people are buying,” said Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the
University of Southern California.

Adding to the financial pinch are interest rates, also on the rise. The average rate of a
30-year mortgage is 4.35 percent, up from 3.5 percent in May.

Prices and mortgage rates are particularly discouraging to first-time buyers, who accounted for
28 percent of October’s sales, down from around 40 percent traditionally, according to the National
Association of Realtors.

The decline in buying power led Lawrence Yun, the chief economist with the Realtors’ group, to
forecast a flattening of home sales.

Yun said sales will probably remain subdued through the first quarter of 2014. They will pick up
thereafter, spurred by gains in employment, he predicted.